Interpretable and Scalable Graphical Models for Complex Spatio-temporal Processes

Abstract

Columbia in Canada. My research career started with Jim and Nhu, who are both brilliant researchers and caring mentors. Jim has always been a role model to me, and without him, I would not have gone this far in this journey. To all my friends that I made and all the people that I met throughout the Ph.D. studies: This journey would not have been so rewarding without you! Shout out to everyone in our research labs, especially Byoung and Zeyu from the Hero Group that I was fortunate to collaborate with; Leo who organized those fun board games; and Chengcheng, Cheng, Yangyi, and Ziping in my cohort. It was a great fun to spend time with you, and I have learned a lot from our interactions. Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents, Xiaoqing Tan the duck, Kitty & Bunny the cats, and Larry the chinchilla for their unwavering support and unconditioned love.iii